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Wednesday 29 April.
As usual we docked at 6.00 am for a 7 am arrival. Because we had already gone through immigration the staet to the trip was a breeze. We picked this two day tour because we wuld go into the country and we did so after we passed Yokohama. Hakone is about 120 km from Tokyo and we took the whole two hours to get there by bus. However because our group was only 9 we had lots of room. Another good thing about the bus was I could actually stand up without hitting my head.
Hakone is a mountain resort in an active thermal area. It has a perched lake 20 km in circumference containing rainbow trout. On arrival we got our first glimpse of the Mt Fuji snow clad cone. Our guide Kay was so happy she said we brought the sunshine. A very nice buffet lunch was had at the Hakone Hotel right on the waterfront, so we had plenty of opportunity to photo Fuji, the sleeping princess. After lunch we went for a boat cruise on lake Ashi. We had lined up with hundreds of tourists to board a replica galleon. When we boarded with the mases Kay said show your ticket and to our surprise we were ushered into the first class section - which was first class. Not much headroom though as I managed to hit the cieling a couple of times. After a 40 minute cruise we disembarked at the bottom of the Hakone aerial ropeway (Togendai Station) for a 21/2 mile cable car ride to what Kay referred to as the top of the big hill (Owakundani Station). Kay had warned us that we were in the middle of the "golden week" and there would be large numbers of tourists, but we wree not really prepared for the numbers until we queued for the ride. But it was worthwhile as the views were fantastic. Then, after a stroll to the 1080 metre level of Owakandani a live cone, we repaired to the Hakone Prince Hotel/Resort on Lake Ashi for the evening. It reminded us of our Jasper Lake experience.
At 7.30 pm we congregated for our Japanese experience, a traditional meal. Kay had read the menu on the bus and everyone was saying "I don't like that". Margaret and I determined to throw our stomachs into the meal whole heartedly. The meal was great, we had our own very attentive attendants dressed in formal Kimonos. They only spoke to us in Japanese but reverting to limited English if anyone clearly did not understand. Contrary to the earlier comments 90% of us ate or tried every course. I found out later that it cost at least $125 a head without drinks.
We forewent a Japanese breakfast for a western breakfast which was excellent. Our excursion staff member Michael told us it cost $26 which Margaret and I thought was reasonable.
After a slow bus ride down the mountain to enjoy the mountain cherry blossom we boarded the 10.11 am precisely, Shinkansen high speed train. Kay had reserved seats for us. It got up to 270 km per hour, not its top speed, because it had three stops and is considered the mail run. Never the less we covered the 120 km return trip to tokyo in 38 minutes.
Arriving in Tokyo we walked the main street and then went to lunch in the Asahi Beer Hall, Kay thught we deserved steak. After lunch we toured the Ginza (silver) district and then to the Imperial Palace Plaza and back to the ship. The Palace is only open to the public on the Emporer's Birthday 23 November and New Years Day.
All in all we had a great time mainly due to the efforts of our guide. Kay gave us a grounding on the Japanese culture, customs and how the country had changed over the last 20 years.
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